United States--1991-

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United States--1991-2020s

Sci-Fi Channel flyer

TV Guide print ad for the 1996 "Doctor Who" movie, for FOX affiliate stations in the New York state area: WOLF (38), WICZ (40), WSYT (68), WNYW (5)

1991

• 1991: With sales falling, and their contract with PBS expiring in 1992, Lionheart turns to US cable channels and other networks. They succeed in selling to the newly-established Sci-Fi Channel. The contract with SCI-FI is for only the William Hartnell stories, Patrick Troughton stories and Jon Pertwee stories...

1992

• By August 1992: The newly-recovered "missing" Patrick Troughton story, The Tomb of the Cybermen, is added to the syndication package, increasing the number of available second Doctor stories from five to six; Lionheart's sales material also has The Tomb of the Cybermen in a special package with the documentary Resistance is Useless.

PATRICK TROUGHTON (continued)

One story, four episodes (also "movie length" omnibus):

MM

The Tomb of the Cybermen

4

• August 1992: The first batch of PBS stations screen the serial: two of the first are KETC in St Louis, Missouri, and WTVP in Peoria. Other stations acquire it later, such as WFYI.
• 24 September 1992: SCI-FI Channel launches. Promising to start with the William Hartnell stories, they instead show Tom Baker stories. The available package only goes up to The Androids of Tara, then cycles back to Robot...

1993-1998

• December 1993: By the end of the year, SCI-FI drops Doctor Who from its schedule.
• 1994: More and more PBS stations do not renew their contracts.

JON PERTWEE (continued)

One episode:

WWW

Invasion of the Dinosaurs

1

• 17 December 1994: The b/w first episode of Invasion of the Dinosaurs airs for the first time, on WXEL. Other stations follow in 1995.
• 1995-96: Production on the TV Movie commences.

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PAUL McGANN

TV Movie, 84 minutes:

TVM

The TV Movie

1

• 14 May 1996: The TV Movie screens as the FOX TUESDAY NIGHT MOVIE.

• 20 May 1996: Jon Pertwee dies while on holiday in Connecticut.

• Starting in late 1996, and through until the early 2000s, some of the Reeltime Pictures documentaries are shown on US stations, usually as late night Pledge Specials; Return to Devil's End is often paired up with repeats of The Daemons.
• The TV Movie was to have been repeated by Fox on 31 December 1996 (the day on which the story was set), but it was pulled at the eleventh hour.
• 1998: By early 1998, only a handful of PBS stations are still regularly screening the series, such as: Iowa, Denver, San Jose, Baltimore, and Cincinnati.

2000 to 2020

• By the turn of the millennium, sales of Doctor Who have all but dried up, and by 2001, Doctor Who begins to fade from television screens in America... Except for WENH in Denham, New Hampshire, which still airs the series, eventually dropping it in November 2004.
• 17 March 2006 to 5 April 2008: The NEW SERIES (the first four new series only) screens on the Sci-Fi Channel.
  • "Sci Fi to air New Series" news item
• 27 June 2009: The NEW SERIES shifts to BBC America, who screens the run of Specials and all subsequent seasons.
• From 2011, KBTC in Tacoma, Washington becomes the sole USA station still screening "classic" episodes of Doctor Who.

• January 2013: BBC America begins showing one story per month leading up to the 50th anniversary.
• 4 August 2014: Retro TV begins a run of classic series episodes, starting with the William Hartnell stories.

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PATRICK TROUGHTON (continued)

One story, five episodes:

QQ

The Web of Fear

5

• 14-15 March 2015: IPTV purchases the newly-recovered Patrick Troughton serial The Web of Fear to screen as part of a special pledge drive. The still-missing third episode is covered by a special on-camera narration provided by Lars Pearson.

• 7 May 2016: Station KERA in Dallas starts repeating the Tom Baker episodes.
• The station continues to screen selected "classic" episodes from time to time over the next few years; from 7 July 2018 they screened for the first time a run of William Hartnell stories.
• 19 January 2019: KERA's rights expire midway through their first run of Patrick Troughton stories.

• 2019: Only the small handful of US stations still clinging to their rights to the classic series play omnibus editions during the year: Retro TV, KBTC, KRSU, WMVS/MPTV, WSRE, Iowa Public Television, and Idaho Public Television. Some of these stations air the same episodes in the same way: Tom, Peter and Colin stories only, as omnibuses, late on Saturday nights, with 6-parters shown in two halves a week apart, and several Dalek serials omitted.
• By the start of 2020, the BBC has effectively stopped selling the series (old and new) to minor broadcasters, with the intention perhaps - once the above stations' rights expire - to leave BBC America and Online services as the only sources of Doctor Who in the USA ...
• For the remainder of 2020, only six known US stations are still screening Classic Who: Retro TV, KBTC, WMVS/MPTV, WSRE, Iowa Public Television and Idaho Public Television (which end on October 2020).
• As 2021 begins, only Retro TV, KBTC, WMVS/MPTV, and Iowa Public Television are still showing the limited selection of classic Doctor "Movies".